Ford Tourneo Connect Review 2024

With the decline of conventional MPVs both in terms of sales and models to choose from, buyers who need space and flexibility for not much cash have been left with van-derived options. Given today’s commercial vehicles are much more sophisticated than their predecessors, that’s not a bad thing. Discover how good one of the most popular choices is with our full Ford Tourneo Connect review.

For its third-generation people-carrying Tourneo Connect — and its Ford Transit Connect van equivalent — rather than go it alone, Ford has chosen to rely on the Volkswagen Caddy as a basis, sharing much of its bodywork, interior and engines with the VW, which uses underpinnings similar to those found beneath the Golf.

That means a level of sophistication that you might not expect, from the suspension and engine options to the infotainment and interior features. It’s a decent value package offering a great deal in terms of space and flexibility for the money, although Ford has skewed the Tourneo Connect range to only be available in plusher trim levels making it appear more expensive.

You can certainly buy the Volkswagen Caddy version for less, although it isn’t — yet — available with the plug-in hybrid option.

Compared with the Citroen e-Berlingo and its electric-only clones in the forms of the Peugeot E-Rifter, Toyota Proace City Verso Electric and Vauxhall Combo Life Electric, the Ford looks on the pricey side. This quartet offer the benefits — and drawbacks — of EV motoring for similar prices to the combustion-engined Ford.

Elsewhere in the five- and seven-seater cars scene, your choices are rather restricted if you want to avoid one based on a larger van body. Of the traditional MPVs, the ageing Volkswagen Touran is the sole survivor, although the curious Dacia Jogger, which is a mix of MPV, estate and SUV, is well worth a look.

Ford currently offers the Tourneo Connect in two specification grades of Titanium and Active, the latter with exterior fittings to give it SUV-like vibes with chunky wheelarch extensions and faux skid plates on the bumpers at either end.

Engine choices are limited to three from VW although they’re marketed with Ford’s familiar EcoBoost and EcoBlue labelling for the 115PS petrol and 122PS diesel, respectively. Joining the line-up in 2024 was the 150PS petrol-electric plug-in hybrid serving-up 71-73 miles of electric range depending on the model. All are fitted with automatic transmissions as standard.

Two lengths are available with the regular Ford Tourneo Connect selling alongside the longer Ford Grand Tourneo Connect. All Grand models have seven seats as standard, although can be ordered without the rearmost row if required. The shorter Connect is a five-seater as standard although all versions of it except the PHEV can have a third row of seats as an option.

Visually the Tourneo Connect is a neat and modern design, albeit with the inevitable boxiness that makes its origins clear. That also makes it obvious just how spacious it is inside and being able to see the car’s corners is no bad thing.

On the inside it’s a similar story. The dashboard inherited from the Volkswagen Caddy is neatly laid out and easy to understand and while it is clearly well built it’s also quite plain with not much colour to it other than shades of grey. Going for the Active model helps in this respect with some flashes of blue dotted around.

More importantly the interior is the Tourneo Connect’s strongest hand. Whether you choose the five- or seven-seat version, the space available inside is truly impressive. With a good amount of seating flexibility and space in all directions, it gives buyers the freedom to move people and stuff in a variety of combinations.

Whatever the version you choose the driving experience is impressively car-like, with responsive steering and good ride comfort. Even though there is more bodyroll than a conventional MPV, it handles well and inspires driver confidence.

Expectations are generally quite low when it comes to van-derived vehicles but the Ford Tourneo Connect might do better than most thanks to its shared parentage. Being based on the Volkswagen Caddy, which itself uses a version of the Golf’s underpinnings, means that it is much more car-like to drive than many of its rivals.

For starters, the steering has a similar weight and feel to that in the Golf, so although the Tourneo Connect is taller and less wieldy than the family hatchback, it does a good job of keeping you connected to the road and responding to inputs.

Yes the suspension is relatively soft so there is body roll should you decide to get a little enthusiastic but not many owners will be driving it this way. Instead it makes any journey that little bit more pleasurable.

The 115PS 1.5-litre EcoBoost petrol is the least expensive engine option and for the most part it is more than sufficient. It is relatively refined, although the van-based body has less sound insulation than a comparable car and there’s enough performance to stay in the swim of urban traffic.

Out of town it needs to be worked a little harder but it’s happy to rev and the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox shifts seamlessly which takes a lot of the effort out of it. However, if you plan to regularly load up with passengers and luggage one of the other options may be a better fit.

Although diesel is a less popular choice these days the 122PS 2.0-litre EcoBlue will make a lot of sense for some buyers. With 320Nm of torque compared with 220Nm in the petrol, acceleration is more relaxed, if not a great deal quicker, sharing the same 7-speed automatic transmission.

It’s also much happier carrying big loads and has to work less hard when doing so, which means real world fuel economy will likely be much better than the petrol version.

The PHEV option has recently been added, which adds electric drive to the 1.5-litre petrol to give 150PS and 350Nm of torque as well as a claimed 71-73 miles of electric range. It has a 6-speed version of the same type of automatic transmission.

It’s the most expensive option — but only by around £1500 compared to the diesels — has the best performance, potentially the best economy and the ability to run in EV mode, so if you can afford it there’s little doubt it is the best of the options.

Euro NCAP tested the Ford Tourneo Connect in 2021 and awarded it a full five star rating. It achieved an 84% score for adult occupant protection, 82% for child occupant protection and 78% for safety assist — only a vulnerable road user score of 69% prevented an impressive score in all categories.

All versions feature lane-keeping assistance, automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning as standard, with the option of an additional safety pack.

The 1.5-litre EcoBoost and PHEV versions can tow up to 1,400kg while the diesel can manage 1,500kg, giving it a slight edge over the petrol options. Anyone wanting to tow heavier loads will need to look elsewhere.

For a car that is exactly 4500mm in its shorter length Titanium guise, the Ford Tourneo Connect offers a very impressive amount of interior space. Coupled to the flexibility of the seating it is more practical than some pricier cars that are significantly bigger on the outside.

For reference, Titanium grade Grand Tourneo Connects are 4853mm long, while the Active versions of both bodies are 15mm greater still.

The front seat space is excellent not only in terms of legroom and elbow room but the big windscreen and high roof means you have lots of headroom and plenty of light coming into the cabin, which does as much for your sense of wellbeing as having room to stretch out.

It’s a similar story in the second row — although the standard setup gives you a 60/40 split in the bench seat you can option three individual seats to give more flexibility.

The second row can be folded in seconds but even if you don’t there is a cavernous 1213 litres of boot space. Removing the second row completely for full van mode liberates 2556 litres. For the Grand Tourneo Connect the equivalent volumes are 1720 litres and 3105 litres. The batteries in the PHEV versions don’t reduce the space available.

What’s more with sliding rear doors on each side getting people and stuff in and out is easy too. The only downside is the tailgate, which is quite tall because of the high roof and so requires some care — and plenty of space — when being used in multi-storey car parks.

The Ford Tourneo Connect interior is something of a mixed bag in terms of material quality with much of the interior carried across from the Volkswagen Caddy. At a glance it looks quite car-like and it feels well constructed, although the grey monotone finish means it is somewhat gloomy.

There are cheaper feeling plastics lower down on the dashboard and doors panels, so although the key controls feel fine to the touch, it is clear where the pennies have been shaved.

Given most Tourneo Connects will be subjected to life with larger families and be used as vans more than just occasionally, these robust, cheaper plastics are more of an advantage than they first appear.

All versions of the Ford Tourneo Connect get the higher specification multimedia system featured in the Volkswagen Caddy, which means a 10-inch touchscreen system mounted high on the dashboard.

Features such as DAB radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, voice control and integral navigation put it on a par with most cars.

The system itself is pretty straightforward to use helped by the size of the screen and menus that are easy to navigate. Less welcome is the fact that the heating and ventilation controls are also lumped into the touchscreen functions. Although the key inputs remain at the bottom of the screen whatever menu you are in, it can be a challenge to make adjustments on the move without having to take your eyes off the road.

Prices start at £33,820 for the Ford Tourneo Connect in Titanium trim with the 1.5-litre EcoBoost engine, rising to £35,510 for the 2.0-litre EcoBlue diesel and £37,050 for the PHEV.

Active trim starts at £37,310 as it can only be had with the diesel or PHEV engines, so it represents a small premium over the Titanium for the nicer design elements. Most expensive at £40,050 is the Ford Grand Tourneo Connect Active PHEV.

Despite being very similar, the Volkswagen Caddy can be had from £28,345 although that’s with less standard equipment than is fitted to the Ford and with a manual gearbox.

Least expensive of the Citroen e-Berlingo, Peugeot E-Rifter, Toyota Proace City Verso Electric and Vauxhall Combo Electric facsimiles is the is the Citroen — yours for £31,080.

Value champion of the alternatives is the less spacious Dacia Jogger which can be had for £18,295 — even the priciest self-charging hybrid version only costs £23,995. At the other end of the scale and despite its age, VW charges £38,865 to get behind the wheel of a Touran.

Running costs for the Ford Tourneo Connect should be relatively low, with all versions offering respectable economy.

Choose a 1.5-litre EcoBoost petrol for WLTP Combined cycle economy of between 40.7-41.8mpg, with CO2 emissions quoted at 154-158g/km.

Those figures are bettered by the 2.0-litre EcoBlue diesel alternative which ranges from 49.2-50.5mpg and 147-151g/km of CO2.

No surprise that the 1.5-litre EcoBoost Plug-in Hybrid performs best of all with claims of 549.0-592.0mpg and CO2 emissions of 11-12g/km.

Insurance groups are also low, ranging from group 10 for the EcoBoost in Titanium trim up to group 15 for the PHEV in Active trim. The PHEV should also be the most cost-efficiency to run if you can charge at home and benefits from lower taxation too.

Ford Tourneo Connect PHEV: Electric range and recharging

Depending on the version you choose, the electric driving range of the Ford Tourneo Connect PHEV is 71-73 miles. Although the range isn’t enough to mean you can travel long journeys in EV it is one of the best electric ranges for a PHEV you can buy and will allow several shorter trips to be completed without the engine firing into life.

Ford has not yet published the battery capacity or recharging times but has confirmed that in addition to an 11kW AC recharge the Tourneo Connect PHEV can also be hooked-up to a 50kW DC rapid connection.

Today’s Ford Tourneo Connect and Grand Tourneo Connect are available in two higher end trim levels of Titanium and Active.

Standard equipment is generous on the Ford Tourneo Connect Titanium with an exterior hallmarked by chrome grille and front fog light surrounds, body-coloured bumpers and door handles, silver-coloured roof rails, electrically folding door mirrors, an electrically heated Quickclear windscreen, automatic lights and wipers, dark-tinted rear privacy glass, keyless entry and starting, front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera plus 17-inch silver-painted alloy wheels.

Inside you will find a digital instrument display, a 10-inch touchscreen for the multimedia display, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity, four USB-C charging points, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, a flat-folding front passenger seat to accommodate longer loads, dual-zone climate control, electric front windows and a safety pack that includes adaptive cruise control, hill start assist and a lane-keeping aid.

Progress to the SUV-inspired looks of the Ford Tourneo Connect Active and the kit roster additionally includes a honeycomb pattern grille, black wheelarch extensions and lower bumpers plus silver faux skid plates front and rear, LED head and tail lights with automatic high beam, a glazed roof panel, two-tone 17-inch alloy wheels and a wireless phone charging pad.

Of the key optional extras, all five-seater shorter-length Tourneo Connects barring the PHEV can be upgraded to seven-seaters, while the larger Grand Tourneo Connect can have its third-row seating deleted.

Two different pack bundles add heated front seats and steering wheel, with the second including special comfort-focused front seats that have an extended seat cushion and electrical lumbar adjustment.